OFFSTAGE: Hunter Hayes Loves His Completely Geeky Bus

(CMT Offstage keeps a 24/7 watch on everything that’s happening with country music artists behind the scenes and
out of the spotlight.)

This is what fame means to Hunter Hayes:
his own tour bus. Make that, his completely geeky tour bus. In
a recent interview with MTV.com, Hayes talked about gutting the back of this bus and putting a studio in it. “I went completely
geeky in it. I’m in my dream world. When I was in high school, I had binders with pictures of tour buses,” he said. “I drew
my set on the side of my notebook. It’s cool to finally see all those pictures in reality ’cause they look a lot better now
than they did then.” He is using that bus as he follows Carrie Underwood around the country as her opening act. And opening
for a major star like Underwood is something Hayes must be getting used to since he did the same for Taylor
Swift last year. “I was nervous as all get out, like butterfly everything. I get off stage, and I see this tall shadow,
and I’m like, ‘Is that her?’ She was really complimentary and turns out she had sat there and watched the whole show from
stage side, and I just thought that was really cool. That meant a lot to me,” Hayes recalled. So far, Swift doesn’t have any
songs about him — at least on her new album. “I didn’t hear any songs about opening acts, so I would say no,” he said. “Maybe
not. Maybe the next one.”